Reviews

The Consensus: Brutal Legend Review

Brutal Legend's soundtrack plays an important role. During key moments certain tracks kick in that absolutely send your heart racing, filling your ears with the atmosphere and feeling that the visuals on-screen only partially convey. You might think that a soundtrack composed of almost entirely heavy metal could get stale very quickly, but there's an enormouse breadth of sound and diversity within this compilation. You have older classics from Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, industrial metal from Ministry, and the ultimate vehicle-driving song in Motley Crue's "Kickstart my Heart." The list goes on and on. You have black metal, symphonic black metal, thrash, grindcore, power metal (could they have made this game without an adrenaline-pumping sequence to the tune of DragonForce's "Through the Fire and Flames?" I think not.), progressive metal, hell, there's even pirate metal from a German band I'd never heard of, Running Wild. If you didn't know that pirate metal even existed, you're not the only one. If you're into metal or any of its many different subgenres, you're sure to find lots to love here.

Despite the game's strengths, sometimes I would tire of all there was to do. Brutal Legend's multitudinous activities are a weakness, as the secondary missions become a chore. You're encouraged to complete these goals in order to earn fire tribute to purchase unlockables, but there's no real need outside of completionist's sake. The driving missions in the Deuce -- Eddie's customizable hot rod -- are simultaneously some of the most entertaining and some of the most annoying, depending on your patience level. More than once I flew straight off of a cliff in my hurry to race towards an objective, forcing me to restart the entire sequence. Checkpoints may have trivialized the difficulty to a degree, but they still would have been appreciated. Escort missions fare no better, feeling like a chore that had to be slogged through before I could reach the next area and the forthcoming series of battles.

Occasionally I was left with a bad taste in my mouth concerning the control scheme for the otherwise greatly entertaining large-scale combat and unit-command sequences. In a crowded melee, it can be difficult to choose exactly the unit you're looking for in order to initiate a double-team maneuver (some of the most effective techniques possible). Targeting is also handled by centering your intended target in the middle of the screen, and it can be a chore to get an acceptable level of precision when belting out orders. All too often I found it a challenge to single out units for specific tasks, like sending stealthy units off for some sabotage or sending a small group to perform diversionary attacks. Still, the system works more often than not, and it's all quite playable.

I loved playing Brutal Legend, and some of that may be attributed to growing up listening to a lot of metal, going to shows, wearing nothing but black tees and jeans, the whole bit. The soundtrack in particular won me over from the very start. But despite all the references to this beloved material, I also felt satisfied as a gamer, challenged by its unique blend of exploration, action and strategy. While I was prepared for a thoroughly entertaining storyline, and was not disappointed, I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun it was to wage war in and explore this lovingly-crafted world. Regardless of whether or not you've seen Iron Maiden in concert, you'll likely still want to share a few laughs and slay a few demons with Eddie and company.

And now, the Consensus: A gathering of critical opinion from across the web.